


It's Karma Kid

by ironfamjam



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A happy AU where everyone lived and was happy, Fluff, Gen, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-10-06
Packaged: 2020-11-24 20:02:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20913317
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ironfamjam/pseuds/ironfamjam
Summary: When Peter holds his newborn son for the first time, there are two thoughts in his mind.1) He loves this child more than anything or anyone in the entire universe2) He's beyond terrifiedLuckily for him, Tony is armed and ready with some clever quips, witty anecdotes, and a whole lot of faith.“Your kid couldn’t have gotten a better dad Peter. And that’s just a fact. Now,” Tony’s eyes glitter, “am I excited for karma to come kick you in the ass for all the grey hairs you’ve given me?” He laughs, “Maybe.”





	It's Karma Kid

There’s sweat dribbling down MJ’s brows and Peter’s heart aches in his chest when she cries out again, lip twisting. “I’m here.” he says, hoping it’s encouraging, “I’m here. You can do this.” 

His hand throbs from how tight she’s been squeezing it, but he has super-strength- a fact MJ uses to her full advantage. 

The doctor encourages MJ to keep going, readying his hands between her legs, “Your baby’s coming. It’s coming, one more push mom, come on.” 

And MJ’s screaming, taking a giant breath before her hand tightens so hard around Peter’s hand he’s sure she’ll pop it clean off. The doctor is smiling, looking into his hands with the gentlest of expressions. And suddenly, the entire universe shifts, as his and MJ’s baby is lifted into the world. 

“It’s a boy.” The doctor says, smiling as he hands Peter’s baby- his _baby_\- over to his mother.

MJ can’t even breathe; her eyes just glitter with tears as she holds her child against her chest and just stares and stares. Peter is enraptured. He knows their baby has to be cleaned and weighed and checked over. He knows that he’s red and slick and now crying, his little lungs accosted by the oxygen around him, but despite everything, he is beautiful. The most beautiful soul in the whole entire world. 

When the doctors return with their baby after ensuring everything’s okay, Peter takes his baby into his arms and feels such a surge of love that it almost floors him. He thought he knew love. Thought he knew what an all consuming adoration that blinds him from reason felt like. But looking at his son- his _son_\- he knows that nothing ever came close. He would do anything for him. He would move the world for him. He would- 

His son’s little mouth widens as he yawns, and almost as if sensing Peter’s stare, his eyes open. Peter’s breath staccatos in his throat. His eyes are a hazy grey, the newborn colour Peter knows will fade with time, but they’re murky and deep and beautiful and _alive_ and Peter’s struck by a sudden fear that sends tremors down to his very atoms. 

He hands their child back to MJ, pressing a kiss against her forehead. “I’m going to- I’m going to let them know that they can come in now. Yeah?” 

Peter clenches his fist as he walks out. He’d long gotten over his stuttering and stumbling diction as a teenager. But when he was nervous, when he was on edge, like he is right then, right _now_, he felt like he was back in his awkward teenage self. 

The fluorescent lights of the hospital hallway are jarring and the rush of people in his face more so. They’re congratulating him and crying and celebrating but all Peter can really hear is the thumping of his heart beat, big and wild. Tony’s eyes meet his from where he’s barely holding back an excitable teenage Morgan from bursting into the room. “Pete,” Tony beckons, “you need a coffee.” 

And though Peter’s heart had just imploded from all the love it never thought it could feel, he feels that same surge now. He feels like a child again, looking up at his hero and knowing everything would be alright. 

They walk in silence down the hallway to the now empty Tim Hortons. Peter’s taller now, taller than Tony by quite a bit. Tony’s changed too, more grey hairs, more laugh lines. But there’s still that knowing glint in his eyes, still that quip always on the edge of his tongue. He buys them two drinks, they sit in a quiet booth in the far corner and Peter raises the cup to his lips but doesn’t take a sip and Tony just looks at him with those knowing knowing eyes. “The fear hit you yet?” He asks, smiling gently at him.

Peter’s eyes widen for just a second before he realizes this is Tony he’s talking to. Tony who knows every one of his fears and every one of his mistakes. “Yeah.” He whispers, “God Mr. Stark- I’m terrified.” 

He looks up, only just noticing the slip up. Mr. Stark…God, he hadn’t called him that in years. Not since watching him almost die. He’d been Tony ever since. But now, now he just wants a mentor. He wants someone wiser. Someone older. Someone who’d done it all and gotten through it just fine. 

Tony, to his credit, doesn’t say anything, just nods. “Yup. I remember that feeling. God you shoulda seen me after Morgan was born, I was a wreck. I baby-proofed _everything_ and was practically afraid to hold her.” 

“Yeah! Exactly! They’re so tiny! And fragile! What if I- what if I _hurt him?_” He sounds so sincere, so genuine that Tony can barely even believe it.

“You?” He says incredulously, “Hurt anyone? Not a chance.” 

Peter opens his mouth to protest, but Tony cuts him off, “Peter, that’s your son in there. And it’s in your instinct, right down to your DNA, to protect him and watch him grow up. You’re going to be fine.” Tony declares with an unnegotiable confidence that almost convinces him.

“But what if he falls? Or what if he grows up and he gets bullied too? What if he gets sick?” Peter’s mind races with all the ways everything could go wrong and suddenly, Tony’s hand is wrapped around his own and he’s squeezing.

“Pete, when you held him for that first time, what did you feel?” 

Peter doesn’t even have to think to know, “That I never knew I could love someone that much.” 

Tony smiles and it’s so warm and full of love that Peter almost wants to cry a little because…he’s looking at Peter like…

“You don’t think that you feeling like that is enough to make sure you’re going to do a bang up job?” Tony asks, voice gentle.

“When I was in your spot, I thought I’d just let Morgan down.” The implied, ‘like I let you down’ hangs in the air, but Peter knows better than to address it, “But then I held her and then I changed her diaper and gave her a bottle and everything that seemed hard at first became just as natural as anything. Because if it was for her, then there was nothing I wouldn’t do.” 

“And then for all the other stuff?” Tony laughs, “Welcome to fatherhood Pete, where you’re constantly worried about everything all the time, but knowing you have to just trust your kid to do the right thing and come to you when they need you.” He gives Peter a look, “You’ve fallen how many times? And you came back stronger every time.” 

“I don’t know about that.” Peter replies, eyes downcast.

“Your kid couldn’t have gotten a better dad Peter. And that’s just a fact. Now,” Tony’s eyes glitter, “am I excited for karma to come kick you in the ass for all the grey hairs you’ve given me?” He laughs, “Maybe.”

Peter pouts, sipping his coffee sulkily, “I’ve already apologized for being fifteen.”

“You forgot sixteen. And seventeen and-”

“Okay! Okay!” Peter waves his hands around like surrender, “I get it! Superkids were hard! My kid’s never gonna know I was Spiderman.” 

Tony gives him a look.

“Okay fine. He’s gonna know. But he can’t ever copy me!”

Tony takes a deliberately loud sip of his coffee.

Peter stares, “_What_.”

Tony’s the picture of faux innocence, “Nothing. I’m just wondering how it would feel to tell a kid he can’t save the world and him, I don’t know, _doing it anyway_.” 

“Okay! I get it! Point made! I was terrible and now this is my karmic justice.” Peter slumps to the table, face pressed against the sticky ceramic.

He hears Tony snort before he rests a hand on Peter’s head, “Kid, I’m just teasing you. Yeah, the grind of parenting is hard, but it’s worth it. Every second of it is worth it. And you’re going to be great.” 

“Plus,” he laughs, “you have super strength. If anyone can handle a toddler with both your energy and MJ’s brains it’s you.” 

Peter pokes his head up, “Holy shit I just imagined him saying dada for the first time and I think I’m having a heart attack.” 

“Don’t get your hopes up. Morgan’s first words were Gerry and I don’t think either of us have ever gotten over it.” 

Peter’s lip pulls up and Tony tilts his head in a signal for them to go. They walk back to MJ’s room and the closer they get, the more anxious Peter becomes. Everyone’s already inside, he can hear them all squealing and cooing but before he can open the door, Tony flicks him in the temple, eyes kind, “Hey, I forgot to give you your gift.”

“What? Mr. Stark you didn’t-” 

“Shh. The adult is talking.”

“But _I am_ an-”

“Shh!” 

Tony hands over a slip of paper and confused, Peter unfolds it before his eyes widen, mouth dropped, “No way. Tony are you serious??” 

“Hundred percent.”

“How did you-”

“Pepper’s still scary. And I pitched them a new gadget and said I’d only give them the rights if they gave you two months paid leave.”

Peter’s eyes swim with emotion before he lunges for a hug, squeezing his mentor tight. “Thank you. I don’t know what to say.”

“Nothing’s fine.” Tony jokes, hugging him back, “Just make sure you use the time. Believe me, there’s nothing more important than that. I’m proud of you Pete. And I know you’re going to make a great dad.” 

Peter hugs Tony tighter. He knows that when Tony says to make every moment count he means it from the rawest, most vulnerable part of him. Knows what it felt like to miss five years of time without Peter in his life. Knows how it felt to miss a month of Morgan’s life from his post-snap recovery. Knows what it feels to look at old photos of his team and wish they had spent more time cooperating and less time arguing now that they were all scattered and gone. 

But Peter also knows that Tony shouldn’t carry even an ounce of guilt. Because for every second he wasn’t there, he made up for it in the times that he was. Peter might have gotten stronger every time he fell, but he always had a shoulder to cry on or a hand to hold or someone to prop him up when he felt too frail to even stand. 

And when he walks in and sees MJ’s smile and when May hands him his son, he looks back at Tony, who’s watching him with loving eyes, and knows that if he can be half the father Tony was and always will be to him, then he’ll be alright. 

His son curls his fingers around Peter’s thumb.

He’ll definitely be alright.


End file.
